What went wrong with Muppets from Space?

MFS was one of my first exposures to the Muppets, and I used to love it when I was a kid, thinking there could be no better muppet movie. And then, about 3 years ago, I watched Studio DC since my little sister had it on, and it made my Muppet love grow. I soon watched TMM GMC, MTM, and some episodes of TMS, and realized how disappointing MFS really was. I still like it, just not as much, now that I've seen what The Muppets are truly capable of.

The only problem I have with The Muppets is that there was too much concept in the run time they were allotted. They cut out quite a bit, but the movie had a break neck pace that made the most of every single moment. Other than the Me party segment, nothing dragged the movie down.

MFS is quite the opposite. There are just too many drags in the script that stop the movie cold and ruin the pacing. A lot of it was Clifford checking mail, Kermit painting the house... and just droning portions of too few Muppets acting bored. The card playing scene? What was that about? Gonzo rushes in and says "I'm from OUTER SPACE!!" He could have just yelled that off the roof tops and got the same reaction of characters running out to see what the explosion was. Not 4 of the Muppets bored to death playing cards.

Here's how the COVNET break out should have gone.

Kermit, Fozzie, and Pepe should have been the only ones that broke in, with Floyd and Animal in the car for back up (having left Bunsen and Beaker behind... I still think that part was pretty brilliant). Piggy was back at Cape Doom covering the story, cutting to a sequence where she worries if Kermie is safe. Using the invisible spray, the three of them split up undetected looking for Gonzo (who just walked out of his holding cel after talking to the sandwich... Bobo forgot to lock the cel behind him), and the invisible spray wears off at compromising moments. They aren't caught, and manage to remain incognito. They all regroup to think up another plan to get Gonzo. Fozzie asks "okay, now how are we supposed to rescue him?" Gonzo pops up behind him and says "Find Who?" Fozzie replies "Well, Gonzo, we have to go find Gonzo." Realizing that, Gonzo points out they still need to find Rizzo. Fozzie asks, "Yeah! Where is he?" Rizzo pops up and says "WHere is who?" Fozzie replies "You know Rizzo, we have to... WOULD EVERYONE CUT THAT OUT!?!" Just a corridor away from escape, they manage to sneak closer to the exit without making a scene, even though it's clear that Gonzo escaped at that point and they just started to alert the guards. Meanwhile, back in the van, Animal grows impatient, Floyd is unable to hold him back. Animal storms the base (the guard is still affected by the Mind Mist), causes a ruckus before the others are almost out, causing a massive chase that leads them in circles (where they run into, and knock over Van Neuter, who himself is being chased by the rest of the rats)... there's large spread confusion, they use the door in a jar (to the same extent in the film) and manage to escape. Gonzo points out that it's almost time for the aliens to land, and they speed off in the Mayhem Van with Agent Singer and Bobo in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile at the landing site, everyone gets sick of waiting for both the aliens and Gonzo (both are late), and everyone else seems dejected until the Alien Gonzos touch down. After asking where the one called Gonzo is, one of the Muppets waiting says that he didn't show up yet. The head alien says "We're a very busy people. Maybe we should try again next century." With that, the Mayhem bus careens to the beach, passers by jump out of the way. The bus skid to a stop, Gonzo jumps out of the door, runs, collapsing at the base of the ship and says "I'M HERE! I'M HERE!"

And basically everything's basically the same from there.

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Oh my gosh, I'm speechless. You literally have me in tears. That's like the BEST script ever. Oh gosh, how did you come up with that. Wow, that would've been so awesome. It stays in touch with the classic muppet show and films what with the running gag of Gonzo and Rizzo popping up. Gosh I totally wish you had written that scene for MFS and just the whole movie. You made my day Dr. Tooth. Thank you .

That's the problem with MFS. It's not a bad movie, but it wastes its potential for being a very good movie.

They really should have gone with another director. I'm sure at least Joey's original script would have at least have more laughs.

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About the director thing, I read on a MC article from '98 that Randal Klesier (director of Grease) was originally going to direct the film, but because of "creative differences" he was dropped. I wonder if the film would've been better if he directed it?

ten times, even a hundred times better than that mess IAVMMCM turned out being.

But then IAVMMCM... good Lord... Scooter cage dancing at a rave party? I think not only were they trying to hard to keep up with the times, but they didn't really have to go all emo on Scooter did they?

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I'm sorry if this is off-topic. I just have to say this in a friendly matter but what do you have againist IAVMMCM (affectionatly called VMX)? The characters were all in character, compare the Piggy and Fozzie in MTI to them in VMX, a lot of long lost muppet characters, , came back into the mixture with full lines! The plot was strong and near perfect, there were two legit songs, "Moulin Scrooge", and "Everyone Matters", the latter of which was one of the most heartwarming muppet songs ever. The cage dancing at a rave party thing was AN ALTERANTIVE UNIVERSE, IN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSES IF YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON THEN YOU ARE A BAD PERSON. I fell like the only real criticism for the film is about Scooter cage-dancing, I mean the muppets were made for adults, they're only dubbed kiddy material, because of Disney. Heck without the pop culture references I think the film is right up there with TMM and GMC! I even think it's better than TM'11. AGAIN SORRY FOR BEING SO OFF-TOPIC.

I'm just saying if even Kermit the Frog himself said "you want to do a better film" then nothing needs to be said on my part. Lol! But hey no offense for those who did enjoy it! I ain't knocking you for it I'm just giving how I personally feel about the film. The Muppets in the movie were not the Muppets I grew up with.

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You know I've got an idea of what a song in MFS shoul'd've been. Instead of "Brick House" they'd perform an original song entitled "We're Back"
"The Muppets are Back" The Muppets are back Our three year hiatus is over Let's start another muppet movie and hope we do it right The Muppets are back. The wait is over. And we're flashier and dashier than ever before Various: The muppets are back, we sooth your soul Now please don't make a fight, but who should get the main role?

It should be moi, I'll save the movie for all it's worth (dialouge)

Uh Kermit, here (hands Kermit a piece of paper) (dialouge)

Sorry everybody it looks like Gonzo gets the role (dialouge)

Whoope I've never felt more alive, let's hope I don't ruin it and this movie thrives

Various: The Muppets are Back with Gonzo front seat

Oh please let Camilla have a main role oh please

Various:The muppets are back, our furriness returns

Now let's get this show on the road and hope the audience ain't bored

The muppets are back. with fish galore

Let the world know it's true that we didn't bid adue

The muppets are back; our three year hiatus is over and our furriness returns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fozzie still had a small hint of Squire Trelawney left over from MTI. At least in a few scenes. But otherwise, he was pretty much back to his old self.

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Really seems Fozzie was becoming a complete idiot since MTI. At least his excuse there was he was playing a character. The picking his nose bit was out of character... but the bit where Pepe was wearing a tutu wouldn't exist without it. And I gotta admit, I hate the bit about "Mama says always wash your hands, no exceptions" makes him come off more juvenile than just having his close relationship with his mother. But I can't say he's awful in it. They just put too many Frank Oz characters in one scene. I actually do enjoy the escape sequence, but it feels they ruined a lot of potential in that bit.

Hey, now that I think about it, ya think "Muppetman" was a slight reference to the "Doctor? "Doctor!" bit?

No original songs, horrible characters, the muppets lacked any emotions(especially kermit), their was terrible back stories(the rats), Jeffrey tambor was in it, the jokes were cheesy, they have a million annoying relatives of gonzo running around, etc.

No original songs, horrible characters, the muppets lacked any emotions(especially kermit), their was terrible back stories(the rats), Jeffrey tambor was in it, the jokes were cheesy, they have a million annoying relatives of gonzo running around, etc.

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I agree with you on most of your points, but I think there were some redeeming qualities of the film, too. Certainly, the movie wasn't the best it could have been, but there were some hilarious scenes and pretty awesome lines.
While it was disappointing that some of the main cast didn't really seem to have a big presence in the film, I think it's nice to have a film centered around Gonzo, especially since he's kind of taking a back seat in the newest films (especially in MMW). While I feel they could have done better on MFS, I wouldn't call it a horrible film.

Gonzo basically centered on the first three films after Henson. If you can think of MFS as Gonzo's movie, it does seem to view a little better. He was in top form in that film, as was Pepe and Rizzo... just everyone else (well... except for all the new characters used) felt flat, Kermit especially.

I REALLY hope there's a way Joey or someone could leak the working script to see where the director ruined it.

Gonzo basically centered on the first three films after Henson. If you can think of MFS as Gonzo's movie, it does seem to view a little better. He was in top form in that film, as was Pepe and Rizzo... just everyone else (well... except for all the new characters used) felt flat, Kermit especially.

I REALLY hope there's a way Joey or someone could leak the working script to see where the director ruined it.

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Exactly- and that be awesome to see where it could have gone and what they were trying to work out in the script. I completely agree.

I personally like the film. Yes, there are flaws and it is probably the weakest of the theatrical movies, but I still enjoy watching it. One of the things I quite like about it is how different it is from the other movies - it's Gonzo's story and he's the star! No other Muppet movie before or since has been like that! I also pretty much love the heck out of any scene with Gonzo and Rizzo, and I also loved the Muppet Boarding House and how they mixed in the classic Muppet Show characters with the newer (at the time) Muppets Tonight! characters. It's just a real shame we didn't see more of that and more scenes in the Muppet Boarding House IMO.